Like "Resident Evil: The Movie"... Only Good!

Rating: 9/10 (29 June 2003)

Years ago, George Romero (father of the zombie genre) created movies like "Night of the Living Dead," "Dawn of the Dead," and "Day of the Dead." Unfortunately, soon after the eighties, the living dead genre died (no pun intended). Except for a few here and there (I.e.: the hilarious "Return of the Living Dead") it seemed there where no longer any independent zombie movies in the works.
But, that began to change as a game called "Resident Evil" began to become a hit to both video-game junkies and "normal" people alike. It seemed that a video-game had sparked a curiosity into zombies once again, and soon enough, a movie was in the works.
Unfortunately, what started as a good idea (Romero to write and direct the film adaptation) soon became a nightmare (shlock-master Paul W.S. Anderson took over). The result was a disaster- a Hollywood-made zombie film (is that an oxymoron?) with no gore and could have easily passed for a PG-13 rating, had it not been for two shots of nudity on the lovely Milla Jochavich. I lost hope in the zombie genre...
But now, after finally being able to see "28 Days Later...," I must give my heart-felt thanks to Danny Boyle- he was able to craft a great zombie film, that carries with it both social dilemna and horror (not to mention a few moments of humor). Not only is this a good zombie film, it is probably the most beautiful and smartest living dead movie ever made!
Is it better than "Dawn of the Dead?" No. Does it lift moments of its plot from "Resident Evil?" Yes. Is that a bad thing? No, not at all seeing as this is a good movie. My only problem with this movie (though it really isn't anyone's fought) is that sometimes the British accent was so thick, I couldn't tell what the actors where saying- of course, if this was an American-made movie it would probably be a butchered mess.
***1/2 out of ****